All rams will be sold individually. They will enter the sale ring as penned.

All rams are OJD vaccinated and are from dams that are vaccinated.(The flock has been vaccinated since 2000) The flock is an 2 gen. OJD approved Vaccinated Flock. The flock is Ovine Brucellosis Accredited Free

Across Flock LAMBPLAN is the comparison of all meat sheep in different flocks and breeds across Australia. It is based on the performance of sires, dams and progeny in flocks assessed by LAMBPLAN.

ACC: Accuracy, under the upgraded analysis LAMBPLAN introduced in 2006 it is a requirement to quote accuracies to obtain ASBVs (formerly EBVs): Expected ACC for young animals are between 55-60%. Good information gives better ACC. This year the accuracies will only be posted in the shed on the information board, to provide room in the catalogue.

S/T: Single ,Twin or Triplet numbered 1,2,3.

BWT: Birth weight Hermes has been measuring birth weight for over 20 years. BWT is best for XB ewes under 0.5 All EBVs shown are suitable for the production systems of our clients. Animals born in autumn and late winter can exceed optimum threshold. All animals in the catalogue were born unassisted.

PWWT: “post weaning weight”. The higher the value, the faster growing progeny the ram will produce. This is the ram’s ebv as a lamb. This is the best Wt indicator for lamb producers.

PFAT: “post weaning fat” the more negative the value for pfat the leaner an animal’s progeny will be . A pfat of -1 is leaner than a pfat of 0.

CAR +: This index has changed its weightings on the measured characters it now gives 65% weight to PWWT, 5% to Pfat and 35% to PEMD. It still shows how the animal’s progeny will perform at the time when you want him to, when you are turning off your lambs. Producers should consider the individual character traits before the index for their target markets.

Index 2020: This is currently the industry standard index replacing the Car+ index. This is a dollar based index. Dollar values for carcass weight, fat and muscle have been calculated for a carcass weight of 22 kg. With producers targeting earlier turn off ages growth has been split 40:60 between Weaning WT and PWWT. Included in the index calculations is BWT. Again it is recommended that producers consider the individual traits for the ram that will suit their production systems. Select on the measured traits.

The trade and export indexes will indicate whether the ram is suited to producing lambs to hit these markets. Most rams in the catalogue are ranked in the top 15% of all terminals rams for both categories. Essentially, fat cover will determine suitability for the market.

TRADE INDEX: The trade $ index is designed to target production of 20kg carcase weight lambs and uses post-weaning age (7.5 months). The index optimises at greater than 6 for PWT, Pfat -0.5 and rewards muscle.

EXPORT INDEX: The export $ index is designed to target production of 24kg carcase weight lambs and uses post-weaning age (7.5 months). The index optimises at greater than 10 for PWT, Pfat -1.0 and rewards muscle.

EATING QUALITY AND EATING QUALITY INDEXES (EQ AND LEQ): introduced in 2016, the eating quality index is targeted at terminal producers interested in improving the meat eating quality of their prime lambs while continuing to improve production traits in a balanced way. The EQ index is based on the same production targets as CAR+ with the added emphasis on eating quality traits including IMF (intramuscular fat), SF5 (Shear force). LEQ is similar to the EQ index however is based on the same production targets as Lamb 2020 where BWT and worm egg count (WEC) are important in the breeding objective.

Initially we will report the EQ and LEQ indexes in the “long form online” and report only the EQ in the sale catalogue. Producers that require individual reporting for IMF, SF5 and LMY information will be given on request.

SELECT ON THE MEASURED TRAITS THAT SIUT YOUR BUSINESSClients should select on the characters that best suit their production system and their expected market weights and target markets.

The 2015 catalogue allows producers to put the Hermes advantage directly into lamb production systems.

Hermes for high yield carcasses.Hermes for more growth at the right stage for lamb production.Hermes for appropriate leanness for different production systems and markets.Hermes for appropriate birth weights for differing climates and environments.